Jump Start # 1933

Acts 16:3 “Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they knew that his father was a Greek.”

Our verse today is the introduction of the apostle Paul to the young man Timothy. I recently taught a class about Timothy’s home. There are some impressive things to notice. He lived in Lystra. His father was Greek. Nothing else is said of his father. There is no indication that his father believed. Timothy’s mother, Eunice, is identified to us as a believer. She and her mother Lois, not only had a sincere faith but they taught the Scriptures to Timothy as a child.

As Timothy grew, he too became a believer. He was used among the brethren not just in Lystra but also in Iconium. The brethren spoke well of Timothy.

Paul comes into town. He meets Timothy and hears about him. Impressed, Paul wants to take Timothy with him. And that, he does. We read of Timothy with Paul when Colossians and Ephesians were written. Timothy was sent to Thessalonica. He was sent to Corinth. He was at Ephesus when 1 & 2 Timothy were written. The end of Hebrews tells us that Timothy was released, which implies that he had been in prison. Timothy’s name is found in twelve of the N.T. books. He plays a dominate role in strengthening the churches that Paul had established.

All of this began with our verse today. There are two thoughts for us.

Mama Eunice allowed Timothy to go. We don’t know how old Timothy was, but twice in the letters to Timothy, Paul refers to his youthfulness. Was he a teenager or perhaps early 20’s? His life was all ahead of him. So many opportunities. Go to school. Get a degree. Find a great job. Marry a nice Christian girl. Have lots of babies. Those are the dreams of parents. Kids living nearby so you can see those grandbabies. What a wonderful dream.

Paul wanted Timothy to go with him. Eunice let Timothy go. Do you understand what this involved? This wasn’t a few weeks of vacation. Two chapter before, Acts 14, Paul had been dragged out of town and stoned. The injuries were so severe that they assumed he was dead. In 2 Corinthians 11 Paul gives us a list of what he experienced as an apostle. They weren’t rock stars traveling in limos. He was stoned. He was beaten with rods. He was in constant dangers. He was hungry. Poorly treated. This wasn’t a fast ticket to get rich. This wasn’t going to get his names in the light. Paul was hunted down. He was chased.

And this man wants Timothy to go with him. Can you imagine setting your son free to travel under such conditions. Also, this wasn’t the days of Facebook, cell phones, or Facetime. Mail, as it was, was so, expensive, slow and not much. Letting Timothy go, meant that his mother wouldn’t see him for a long, long time. With Timothy getting this preaching bug, chances are he and his family would live far away. Timothy wasn’t going to be the preacher at Lystra, where mama attended. He was out on the road. He was in different cities and in different countries. And, Eunice let him go.

The second thing we notice, is that Timothy seems to want to go with Paul. We don’t find him being taken against his will. We don’t see him kicking and screaming. We don’t find him deserting Paul like Demas did. He wasn’t always with Paul. He was sent to places by himself. This is what he wanted to do. This was his life’s love and work. He wanted to preach and teach God’s word.

Eunice has left us with two powerful examples.

First, she raised a son who would serve in the kingdom. By the time Paul comes to town, Timothy was already well spoken of by the brethren. He had already been useful among them. This didn’t come from Paul. This came from Eunice. She raised a son who loved the Lord and saw the importance of using his talents in the kingdom. This was a family that definitely put the kingdom first.

I wonder if we could do what Eunice did? Today, the thought is make as much money as you can son. The thought is, throw that ball, get those grades, succeed, make money. And as a result, so many congregations today are plagued with a lack of male leadership. The men sit around not even wanting to lead a prayer. The church struggles. A preacher moves away and the church nearly dies until the next preacher is found. No one can step up. No one knows how to preach. No one can write an article. Where are the Timothy’s today? Where are the families that are raising their sons to serve as elders and preachers? Have we put too much into making money, living close to us, and being happy than we have in the furtherance of the kingdom? Have we done a good job explaining the value of the kingdom? Have we burned within the hearts of our children the importance of serving? Have they seen us busy in the kingdom? Have they seen us having families in our homes? Paul came and Eunice let him go. I wonder if we would have let our sons go? I wonder if Paul would have noticed our sons? I wonder if our sons would have any reputation among the brethren? All this came not from Timothy’s dad, but from a mom who put Christ before all things. Why are there so few preachers and elders today? Do we really need to ask that? I think we know.

Second, she put the kingdom before herself. All moms would love to have their children living close to them. I see several generations all worshipping together. That’s a great comfort and a great feeling. I’m sure that Eunice would have wanted the same. But Paul came. He needed Timothy. The kingdom needed Timothy. Eunice put aside her feelings and she allowed him to go. Imagine our Sunday night attendance if we put the kingdom before self. Imagine our weekly contribution if we put the kingdom before self. Now, not everyone can preach, nor should they preach. Work in the kingdom needs to be done at home, whether it’s Lystra or fall away places with Paul. It’s not saying my son has to preach. It’s not saying that he has to move far from home. What we are saying is he puts both eyes on the Lord and the kingdom. Wherever he is, he serves. In college, he’s helping the congregation there. He’s having Bible studies in his dorm room. Married and in an apartment, they have couples over to encourage. He uses his talents to help the congregation he’s with. He may teach. He may lead singing. He may share his knowledge of media and help the church spread the Gospel. His heart says, as Isaiah first said, “Here am I, send me.”

I fear we teach our children to obey the Gospel, then we wipe our brow and we are finished. And they grow up to sit in a pew and do very little. Volunteers are needed and they are no where to be found. Folks need encouragement, but they aren’t the ones to send a card. Someone needs help moving, don’t call on these folks, because they won’t do it. They’ll be there on Sunday, but that’s it. Timothy wasn’t cut from that cloth. He was different. He didn’t get that from dad. His dad was no influence spiritually. He had a mom. He had a mom that was a believer. He had a mom that taught, showed and eventually stood out of the door way so he could leave with Paul.

To a lesser degree, I had parents like that. Most of us who were the first to preach in our family, have a similar story.

The amazing Eunice. She raised a son to follow the Savior.

Roger

Jump Start # 1931

Acts 13:36 “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his father, and underwent decay.”

Recently, I have been reading the history of Washington County, Indiana. It’s a book that was first written in the 1880’s. My interest is in early church history, especially those connected to the restoration movement. That county isn’t far from where I live and I’ve done a bit of preaching there and know a lot of people from there. I find the stories about the early days of hunting bears and dealings with Indians to be most fascinating. Last night, I read about a pioneer that shot a bear out of a tree. The bear then put both paws on the man’s shoulders and started shaking him. The man was saved by his dogs who irritated the bear so much that it left. Fascinating.

I thought about that pioneer and his world and how different it was from my world. Surviving was most important for that early settler. Surviving weather, Indians and wild animals. He never thought about retirement savings, as I do. The thought of assisted living insurance never crossed his mind. It does mine. Clearing some trees so he could plant some corn was important to that pioneer. He worked hard. Life was hard. Accidents, disease, and attacks from wild animals and Indians kept many from living very long. One story I read took place at a wedding. The groom wasn’t there. Word came that he had been bitten by a rattlesnake and died. The wedding party got up and went to his funeral. Unbelievable.

While our worlds are so different, some things remain the same. Some things have never changed.

Worry remains the same. I don’t think about Indians. The last time I thought about any Indian was when I went to a ballgame this summer in Cleveland. Those early pioneers worried about weather, surviving and getting through the winter. Our worries are about our kids getting through college, having enough to retire on and driving in traffic. Worry is the same. Whether we are worrying about bears or bear markets, worry can steal our faith, blind us to the blessings of God and rob us of both health and sleep. Worry is the same.

God remains the same. I read in that book about an epidemic of cholera. Many died. I can only imagine the prayers of those parents in a log cabin as they looked over their sick child. Helpless. Hopeless. The end of dreams. And yet, here we are, all these years later. Instead of a log cabin, we are in a hospital room. Instead of cholera, it’s cancer. And there God remains hearing our prayers. Hope in troubled times is always found in God. When no one can do any more, God can. There sure has been many wars since those early pioneer days of young Indiana. There has been civil wars and world wars. Parents have sent their sons to far off places to defend our freedoms. Many never returned. There has been hurricanes and fires and tornados and floods. There has been trips to the cemeteries and broken hearts. Yet God remains on the throne. Our houses are larger and more comfortable than those early log cabins. We can do more today and faster than those early pioneers. Yet, we still need God. We have not out grown God. We have not conquered sin. We have not found any other way to Heaven, but through Jesus. We still fuss and fight with each other. We struggle to forgive. We suffer when we have not developed a heart like Jesus. What that early pioneer needed is the same thing that I need, and that is Jesus.

Our work remains the same. We are to walk by faith. We are to trust in the Lord. We are to build congregations. We are to preach and teach. For those early pioneers, sitting on log pews, they were amazed with the stories of the Savior who healed lepers and made the blind to see. They learned about forgiveness and grace. They saw what God expected in worship. And, today, with our Bibles on our phones and tablets, we continue to read and learn about that wonderful Savior. The words of salvation remain the same. It brought forgiveness and hope in that wooded Indiana wilderness as it does in our modern cities today. Generations pass, but the same Gospel needs to be taught.

We are the same. That pioneer that fought the bear was probably much stronger and tougher than I am. I probably couldn’t put up with the things he ate. He wouldn’t like what I eat. But, we are the same on the inside. We must make choices that will either lead us to Heaven or away from God. We are both sinners who need Jesus. We both need to be leaders in our homes. We both will be judged by God someday.

Our verse today sums all of this up. It’s about King David. He served the purpose of God in his own generation. That’s the good that we do. Our work is now. Our work is among this generation. As primitive as the bear hunter seems to us, we will appear like that to future generations. Those future generations will still have worry. They will still have God. They will still have the same work to do that we’ve done. They may do it faster and better, but preaching and teaching will remain.

But what happens when a generation doesn’t serve the purpose of God? A generation grows without knowing the Lord. Wrong choices are made. Life gets messy. Lives are lost eternally. All it takes is for one generation to stop and future generations are hindered and affected. The book of Judges shows this. After Joshua died, another generation rose that didn’t not know the Lord. Their choices led them away from God. Each generation must do it’s work. This means we need to pour hours into training, teaching and developing those behind us. We will pass the baton on to them. It is essential that they understand and that they know. So, fellow preacher, we must continue to preach the basics. A new people needs to know. We need to spend time showing how things should be done. We need to take the time to answer their questions. Serving our generation is what we must be busy doing.

We don’t need monuments to honor us. Our treasures are stored up in Heaven.

David served. He served the purpose of God. He served the purpose of God in his own generation. Powerful thoughts for us. This is what we must be busy doing. It was true in the wilderness of early Indiana as is it today for us.

Roger